Whose courts are they anyway?

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The Jackson reforms will drive lawyers away from areas of work representing the interests of ordinary people

This is a sad week for the law and civil justice in England and Wales. The
implementation on April 1 of the “Jackson” reforms to civil procedure, costs
and funding, coupled with swingeing cuts in eligibility for legal aid will:

• Destroy the fundamental principle of restitution, taking money needed for
care and other expenses out of the damages of injured and disabled people
and handing an unfair windfall to insurers, big business and government;

• Confuse and obscure the “English rule” that costs follow the event; and

• Demonstrate for once and for all that the Government and the senior
judiciary essentially

Court of Appeal
Published: March 3, 2015
In re M and Others (Children) (Abduction: Child’s Objections)
Before Lord Justice Richards, Lady Justice Black and Lord Justice Ryder
Judgment: January 27, 2015
When a court was determining whether, for the purposes of article 13 of the
Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction 1980,
a child who objected to being returned to his country of habitual residence
had attained the age and degree of maturity at which it was appropriate to
take account of his views, the exercise required was a straightforward
examination of whether the terms of the Convention had been satisfied
without the use of any technical subsidiary tests